


blanket forts and pillowcases

by jessamurphy



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Childhood, Childhood Friends, Childhood Memories, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Light Angst, M/M, Paddling through childhood, Post-Episode: s03e04 Watch the Thrones, a lot of it, jonty, mainly fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-02
Updated: 2016-03-02
Packaged: 2018-05-24 10:23:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,217
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6150502
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jessamurphy/pseuds/jessamurphy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Monty remembered them being kids, a few years old. Their parents had been working together on a project, got talking about their families, and everything else was history. They let their sons meet, arranged playdates (as far as they were allowed on the Ark), introduced themselves. It had only taken a few minutes before the little boys had been on the floor, wooden blocks scattered all around them, building towers and pushing them over in record time. "</p><p>Monty and Jasper have been friends since childhood. They grew up together on the Ark, running around, always having each others backs. As they grow up, they develop certain habits, and some habits are hard to let go off.</p><p>aka: childhood memories and (small) children falling asleep.<br/><i>It was easier to sleep beside each other anyway.</i></p>
            </blockquote>





	blanket forts and pillowcases

**Author's Note:**

> So this is my second work, and I still feel like I'm a bit rusty and this is still completely unbeta'd, so if there are any errors/mistakes don't be afraid to let me know! I also had a total lack of inspiration for the title, so sorry about that.
> 
> I hope you enjoy :)

It was all he had ever known, the shape of the body next to him, breathing easily, lazily, finally coming to rest after all they had been through. Even in Mount Weather he hadn’t let him out of sight, not when night fell. They arranged their sleeping places in such way that Monty could always see Jasper, and vice versa. They had done this since they were kids, and they weren’t stopping now.

Monty remembered them being kids, a few years old. Their parents had been working together on a project, got talking about their families, and everything else was history. They let their sons meet, arranged playdates (as far as they were allowed on the Ark), introduced themselves. It had only taken a few minutes before the little boys had been on the floor, wooden blocks scattered all around them, building towers and pushing them over in record time. The first day they had met, they had played with every single one of the toys Monty owned. The next day Jasper brought all of his. They played together whenever they could, never leaving each others sides. They went on til the evening fell and their eyelids drooped, contently smiling at each other, until their parents picked them up and carried them to their beds.

Jasper and Monty had a tradition of building blanket forts, even tho there were only three blankets and a very limited space in their rooms on the Ark, and everything had to be cleaned up before dinner. By the time they were seven, they were the ultimate blanket-fort-builders. No one had quite mastered the skill as well as they had. What first had taken hours was now done in a matter of minutes. They didn’t mind, anyway, as they found new ways to fill their time, huddled together under the blankets.

When they were eight, they started teaming up in school projects. Really it was more of an excuse to not spent their time apart. They had grown together, whispering stories to each other at the back of the class, shared theories and homework, shared their food, shared their parents. As much as Hannah was Monty’s mum, she became Jasper’s as well. Jasper’s father would explain the boys things about metals, the periodic system, elements, anything related to science, and they would eat it up, all ears when he told them stories of scientists living on earth a long time ago.

When they were ten, they fell asleep next to each other, blanket fort collapsed on top of them because Jasper kicked one of the chairs holding it up. While Monty tried rebuilding the fort, Jasper decided he was having none of it and attacked his best friend, hands outstretched. Monty had collapsed in a pile of giggles and blankets, vividly kicking and trying to tickle Jasper back. They wound up a mess of tangled limbs, all laughter and flushed cheeks. After their tickle fight was over, they never really shifted, whispering stupid jokes to one another until they grew tired, smiling and still laughing at their terrible puns. And while the ground might not have been the most comfortable to sleep on, it wasn’t like the mattresses were better. They were wrapped up next to each other, and that was enough.

By the age of thirteen Monty brought home a book about the solar system and the zodiac. It was old and dusty, and incredibly inaccurate, but when Monty showed Jasper, Jasper looked at him like he was holding the sun in his hands.    
„Where did you get that?”  
 „Nowhere it should have been,” Monty had answered, a smile tugging at the corner of his lips. Jasper’s eyes had gleamed, already moving to get the blankets to build them a save fort where none of their secrets would be discovered.  
 „Can you show me?” Jasper asked, holding up one of the blankets, and Monty nodded. They filled their evenings with secret universes, staring up into space, or down it. Their wonder never stopped growing, looking down at earth, imagining how it must have been living there. T  
hey are lying next to each other one night, looking at the stars, when Jasper poses the question.   
„If you could, would you have wanted to grow up on earth?”    
„Not if it meant not meeting you,” Monty says quietly, turning his head towards the other boy, hands touching. Jasper sends him a soft smile, and nods in agreement.

They are fourteen when they are told to stop making a mess of the duvets every time, so Jasper and Monty stop building blanket forts- for now. They swear that, when they are older and get their own place, they will reunite their skills to built the most epic fort together. But for now, they decide they will be contempt with the possibility of being close to each other when they fall asleep, blanket forts be damned. They stay up late making their homework, spent their afternoons sneaking around and discovering Jasper’s uncanny talent for turning up at the wrong place at the right time. They laugh their rush of adrenaline off as they collapse inside the Jordan residence, taking out whatever’s in their bags, grins spreading across their faces.  
A silent high-five and a small nod, and they’re off making homework again, until one of the two starts drawling out the questions and sighing in annoyance.   
„Scoot over,” Monty demands, softly shoving Jasper aside, who's head is resting upon the table, „so I can compare our answers.”  
 „I’m so tired Monts,” Jasper whines, resting his head upon Monty’s shoulder. „My brain might explode.”    
„Let’s hope not,” Monty retorts, scanning through the answers, „I like your brain far too much for that.”  
 „Thank you,” Jasper yawns, closing his eyes. „I’m gonna sleep. See you on the other side?”   
„See you on the other side.”  

Then it all went to shit. They got their asses busted, got sent down into the skyboxes, separated from each other. The first few weeks were excruciating, like figuring out how to live without a limb. Monty and Jasper had been together for so long they had forgotten what it was like to be without the other. It took a few weeks to think of something, but then they got it: their own secret language. They spent their days creating signs, signals, anything that would keep them in close contact with one another. Their high-fives evolved, their signs got more complicated. At night, when Jasper couldn’t sleep, he'd wrap his blanket around him and pretend Monty was there with him. The knocks on the wall echoed a silent promise.   
_‚I am not going to leave you.’_

On earth, they were reunited with their old sleeping habits. They had woken up next to each other on the dropship, smiling at each other because they made it. When Jasper was wounded Monty had slept in the same room, dozing off every now and then. He made sure to be there when Jasper woke up, hands clasping each other tight in silent prayer and ‚thank god he is alive’. Then, when Jasper helped save Octavia, the 100 gave them a bigger tent. The others never even thought to separate the two of them. They had been together for so long they were merely a unit now, pieces of a whole, two sides of the same coin. They shared their tent, and when Jasper woke up bathing in sweat, they shared their beds too, the presence of their bodies so familiar it was more than just comfort. It was home.

Mount Weather had been disorientating at least. Jasper had quickly put his trust into the people, accepting this new reality like a warm bath. It was so different from the hell they had been through, he felt like he could finally breathe. He had smiled at Monty.    
„You have to try this pie,” he nodded at his plate. Monty had taken a piece, silently agreeing as he was chewing.   
„Oh my god, what is that?” he had asked, smiling.   
„I don’t know,” Jasper sounded incredulous, „but it’s great. My turn.”    
„What? This?” Monty shook his head, trying to sound casual. „Nah. You wouldn’t like it. Your pie’s way better.”  
 „Oh really?” Jasper asked, trying to steal a piece of cake off Monty’s plate, who quickly moved it back.  
„Ok,” Jasper grinned, seeing how it was. Of course Monty offered Clarke a piece of his pie, to which Jasper only shook his head.    
„Oh, it’s so on,” he smiled, and Monty had laughed, because maybe they were finally safe.

He should’ve known that illusions only last so long. They went from pie-eating to blood-crawling in the blink of an eye. They took Monty to get to Jasper, and Jasper had quite effectively lost his mind, even if it was for a split second. He couldn’t douse the restless fire burning in the pits of his stomach when Monty didn’t show up, did not return. It took two days before Jasper decided to do something about it, turning the sword around in his hand, ready to maim if it meant getting Monty back. Monty, of course, did not know the lengths Jasper had gone to get him out of his cage. He could only sigh and hold on tight, letting their body heat intertwine, letting Jasper’s arms comfort him. In return, Monty had given the signal to pull the lever when he saw they had taken Jasper. He could imagine a lot of things, but a live without Jasper was not one of them.

Things changed when they were brought to Camp Jaha, or Arkadia. In general, things had been a mess since the whole ordeal at Mount Weather. Hell, things had been a mess since the moment they had landed on earth. Still, Mount Weather had been a turning point- fresh scars on beating hearts. It wasn’t something that was going to heal overnight. And, as it turned out, not something that healed over three months either.

For the first few weeks barely an eye was shut. Nobody was able to sleep, haunted by the affairs, the things that they had been through. They were separated, torn apart, divided and shattered all over Arkadia. The grown-ups had put them back to work, and for the first time in forever Monty went to bed without Jasper in his vision.

Monty had followed Jasper out into the open, had watched him collapse, had sat down next to his former best friend. He didn’t let his thoughts dwell, just went to lie down next to Jasper for a moment, remembering the nights they had spent huddled up together in the sky, but on earth too. He remembered the night of the storm, seeking shelter from the rain and finding it. With every roll of thunder Jasper was quaking, shivering. He had shaken off his coat, hoping it might dry.  
 „Hey Jasp,” Monty had said, nudging the boy beside him, „you remember how we used to build blanket forts?”    
Jasper stared at him in wonder before nodding. „Yeah,” he said softly.    
„Well,” said Monty, „I guess we have to figure something else out tonight.”   
„You can tell me about the planets,” offered Jasper, looking at Monty before scooting closer, desperate to share some body heat. Monty had smiled faintly.  
 „And you can tell stories about men called Newton with their apples falling on their heads.”

One night Monty woke up, bathing in sweat, breathing heavily.  
 „Hey,” a small voice beside him said, rough and nearly detached. Still it made Monty’s stomach turn. When he rolled over he saw a sight he had never expected to see again in his lifetime. He let out a choked sob, barely audible. Neither he nor Jasper did say anything. They did not exchange any words, because they simply did not know how. For a moment, they let themselves drown in each others body warmth, radiating nervous energy and uncertainty. Then Jasper shifted, uneasily. He opened his mouth to say something, but Monty cut him off.  
 „I’m sorry,” he said, before Jasper could say anything. „I’m sorry for everything, I’m sorry for- for doing what I did. But I am not sorry for saving you.”   
Jasper looked at him, eyes filled with a mix of emotions.    
„I’m sorry too,” he finally whispered hoarsely, eyes skitting across Monty’s face. He looked like he was about to say something more, but then decided to swallow his words. „Do you remember how we used to built blanket forts?” he asked, finally looking up at Monty. „And how, when I was scared, you would hold my hand and tell me about men and all sorts of animals, and things were okay again because if they could’ve survived on that weird orb called earth, we could survive anything?”  
Jasper’s voice croaked. „Because I do. And I really need some punk to tell me about the last tree in space, because if it could survive space, we could survive anything.”

It was easier to sleep beside each other anyway.

It was all they had ever known, the shape of the body next to each other, breathing easily, lazily, finally coming to rest after all they had been through. They had done this since they were kids, and they weren’t stopping now.

**Author's Note:**

> If you enjoyed the fic, please let me know! Any feedback will be appreciated :)


End file.
